Around the World in Eighty Days

These chapters bring together the many explorative threads within the theme of Victorian Honor, Integrity, and Ideals. Phileas and Detective Fix both demonstrate their profound and deepening commitment to Victorian values. Chapter 31 begins with an emotional demonstration of Aouda’s love for Phileas, foreshadowing their marriage at the conclusion of the novel. Despite Aouda’s emotional greeting, Phileas maintains his Victorian stoicism and dignity, highlighting his determination to complete the voyage. Detective Fix redeems his earlier sabotage by providing an alternate mode of travel—this act suggests Fix’s willingness to allow completion of the voyage on time, marking a significant change of heart.

Chapters 32-35 bring the tension to a peak as the group speeds toward England with little time remaining. Though Phileas retains his cool exterior, he demonstrates his desperation through increasingly extreme actions and financial expenditures. He bribes the captain of a ship to secure passage across the ocean before locking up the captain and encouraging a mutiny. Phileas’s exorbitant expenditures become plot devices with dual significance. On the surface, these demonstrations allow for the successful completion of the voyage. On a symbolic level, though, these expenditures are necessary to preserve Phileas as a symbol of morality and Victorian ideals. His appeasement of the captain of the Henrietta, for example, resolves his unlawful and deceitful behavior during this episode.

Chapters 33 and 34 are a race toward the finish of the voyage that highlights the role of punctuality within the theme of Punctuality, Time, and Time Management, with continual references to clocks and passage of time. This race culminates with the arrest of Phileas by Detective Fix on arrival in London, a surprise despite the reader’s consistent awareness of the detective’s intentions. The detective’s active support encourages the belief that he will ultimately enable Phileas’s victory. However, the protagonist’s positive influence on the detective presents a complete redemption. Fix resolves to honor his duty, which necessitates sacrificing the success of Phileas’s venture despite his personal feelings about the man. This ironic manifestation of the theme of Victorian honor, integrity, and ideals has dual narrative significance. It is both a plot device to increase narrative tension as the story approaches its climax and a demonstration of Fix’s character growth within the redemption arc.

Phileas’s supposed failure results in the protagonist demonstrating emotions for the first time in the novel. His sadness is rooted in his regret that he is now unable to provide for Aouda, as he has lost his wealth. The revelation of his devotion to Aouda establishes unexpected character growth in the protagonist, who happily accepts Aouda’s marriage proposal. It is this development that allows the discovery of Phileas’s uncharacteristic mistake regarding the change in time by traveling eastward throughout the journey.

Chapter 37 is the final chapter of the novel and provides closure for the remaining narrative elements. Phileas wins the bet, and each character receives a satisfying reward for their role in the successful completion of the journey. Phileas forgives Fix, completing his character redemption. Phileas requires Passepartout to pay for leaving the gas on while they were away, another example of comic relief that alludes to the first of the valet’s comical adventures in the novel, demonstrating the structural cohesiveness of Verne’s narrative. Phileas is also able to comfortably provide for Aouda as his wife.